


The Bell Tolls (The Daybreak Remix)

by magicasen



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Noir
Genre: M/M, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9918815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicasen/pseuds/magicasen
Summary: Steve learns about Tony's life without him and fulfills one final wish.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ranoutofrun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranoutofrun/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Before the clock strikes 12](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8905366) by [ranoutofrun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranoutofrun/pseuds/ranoutofrun). 
  * In response to a prompt by [ranoutofrun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranoutofrun/pseuds/ranoutofrun) in the [Cap_Ironman_Remix_Madness_2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Cap_Ironman_Remix_Madness_2017) collection. 



> A sequel to ranoutofrun's absolutely breathtaking Noir fanart. I hope I did it justice, because wow, did it break my heart.

Steve's the last one to leave the funeral.

That's not quite true. By some measures, he's one of the first. He hid away in the mausoleum earlier, and spent an hour picking his way through fields of graves, leaving a trail of white lilies in his wake.

It's a beautiful day, and he spends it reading inscriptions of people born and put to their final rest, mulling over lives lived and families left behind in the decades lost to him.

_Anthony Edward Stark. A Marvel to us all._

The tears threaten to well up again, and Steve rubs at them roughly, the skin tender and puffy. He'd already broken down an hour ago in front of William Brian Murphy, beloved husband, father, and inspiration remembered by all.

Someone clears their throat behind him.

Lila Rhodes is Rhodey's granddaughter. She's a genius, graduating high school at fourteen, university at seventeen, and currently obtaining her doctorate in computer science at the age of 22. Tony's genes had rubbed off into the Rhodes's bloodline, Tony had declared, as proud as any real grandparent. He'd left no heirs of his own.

“Let's go home,” she hesitates, like she's not sure how to refer to him, finally settling on a “Captain.”

Steve lays down his last flower, lingering on his knee before the gravestone, and doesn't nod.

* * *

Most of Tony's funds are tied up already, in charity foundations and research grants and the upkeep of the company. Marvels had adapted—marvelously—to the times, an industry giant and backbone of the comic book industry, recently expanded into Hollywood big-time.

Two weeks ago, Steve was fighting in Nazi Germany. Now, he's told that Tony changed his will, days before his death, and finds himself an overnight billionaire.

“He wanted to make sure you were taken care of,” Virginia tells him. She's Pepper's granddaughter, and it had taken Steve a few days before realizing she's also her namesake. She's not as keen to physical danger as Pepper, preferring a cooler, just as cutthroat manner in the boardroom as a company executive.

She speaks fondly of her grandmother, passed away a few years ago, but Steve's learned not to inquire too much after her before Virginia gets the desperate look of a cornered animal in her eyes.

He shouldn't hold it against her. His Pepper was Granny to her, who had let her sit on her lap and read her stories and had taught her mountaineering.

“But, naming me his next of kin? That's—” Steve's throat closes up. “Why didn't he just—?” Steve's heart twists at the admission. He thinks of Tony's face, seeing him again in the hospital, and how it was the expression of a man who had never fallen out of love. “If he started his own family, had people to take care of him...” He deserved that.

“He did,” Virginia says, with a damning look of pity, then crosses her arms. “He'd say he was being pragmatic, never having children. One of the world's biggest gay icons, a family man?” She sighs. “I mean, bi, but who really paid attention to that part, right?”

Steve involuntarily flinches. Tony had told him the news, how gays could marry now, that it was okay, and he remembers vividly how open Tony had been with his affections, kissing the back of Steve's hand. But hearing someone talk openly about it still makes him want to steal a glance at the door and make sure no one's watching.

“I'm sorry,” Virginia says. “I shouldn't be focusing on those people. Uncle Tony was important to a lot of people. More than you can even imagine. He saved a lot of teenagers' lives, being who he was.”

“Can you tell me about it?” Steve asks her, and she smiles.

All he'd focused on when Tony had told him about it was the intense sense of relief, and how he traced the curve of Tony's smile with his thumb as Tony talked about it, projecting images on the wall of weddings and celebrations in the heart of New York. Their home.

It makes too much sense in retrospect that it'd been a battle until the very end. Steve closes his eyes, and thinks of how far they've come, and how much further they had to go.

It explains all the rainbows at Tony's funeral. There was a rainbow in the sky, he recalls, on the day of the funeral.

* * *

“You've been an strong advocate for LGBT rights ever since Stonewall. Possibly the biggest name out there, with the likes of Sir Ian McKellen. Could you imagine how much this movement has grown, _blossomed,_ since forty years ago?”

“Stephen, you're asking the person who's gone toe-to-toe with Nazi experiments that'd haunt you in your dreams, seen dragons escape from a statue the size of,” Tony gestures with his fingers, “so, and, and you're asking me if humanity finally pulling their head out of its collective ass and deciding to treat everyone, not just people like them, with decency and respect, then yes.” Tony laughs. “It's a shocker.”

“Dragons and Nazi super-soldiers,” the host laughs, like he isn't quite sure how much to treat as fact or as fiction. Tony Stark is a legend nearly a century in the making, and no one else has been able to crack it. “I read those Marvel issues growing up, you know.” He leans in. “My favorite was the one with Fin Fang Foom.” Tony brightens with an _oh, that's a great one,_ as the host waves his hand around. 

“It's amazing now. I mean, I worshiped you because you wrestled a chimera in a suit of armor. A lot of kids nowadays do it because you're an inspiration. But, of course, this has been a lifelong thing for you.”

“I could just imagine all those men cursing over losing their blackmail material on Tony Stark when I came out.” Tony's smile looks more a grimace.

“As we've been discussing, you're most renowned for your Marvels magazine, subject of many a blockbuster film, TV series, cartoons, even with the decades-long hiatus. You were a hero to an entire generation of Americans growing up. Concerning the recent movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, that came out just last week to an _outstanding_ box office—” the audience cheers and applauds in turn— “we understand that they consulted with you on your own experience with the real Captain America. Forgive me, but this all just brings us back to the age-old speculation on the nature of your relationship with Cap.”

“Oh, those rumors were around long before I came out.” They share a laugh. “That Cap was the type of man I could see coming back home, marrying a nice girl and starting a family out in the suburbs.” Tony says, mapping the picture out with his fingers. “White picket fence and all.”

He doesn't deny any of his own feelings, and the host and studio audience pick up on the fact swiftly. “He was a great man, and there's been few greater losses to our nation than him. And now, a word from our sponsors.”

Steve taps the screen and pauses the video. It freezes on Tony's face, looking at the announcer with his hand curled over his lips, hiding a smile. Steve thinks of all the medications, an endless procession of nurses imploring Tony to rest to his cheerful, non-budging refusal. What had it taken, to appear on this show? It'd been a few years, but the signs of Tony's age taking its toll would have been clear to everyone.

He wishes he could tell himself that it was just Tony wanting to uphold Captain America's image, leave him untainted in the eyes of history. He can't bring himself to rewind the video to see Tony's expression again, but the wistful look in Tony's eyes doesn't escape his memory.

* * *

Maybe Pepper was just a woman born before her time, Steve muses, seeing Virginia briskly order around the few people who can get past her secretary, periodically calling him over and explaining bits of the will and the subsequent options he could take.

It's a small moment, as Steve forgets to leave his sketchbook behind when she calls him again, and her eye catches on it as she's asking for a signature.

“May I see?”

Steve slides the paper over toward her, carefully avoiding her eyes as she evaluates his work. The scenery sketch is nothing special – while he, for once, actually has the time and materials to make something beautiful, he sees nothing here. No spark, no life. Virginia hums, and flips back a page.

It's of Tony, the one she knows, older, and wrinkled. It's of the Tony Steve knows, bright-eyed, the defining laugh-lines around his eyes distinctive.

“This is more than just a hobby, isn't it?”

“I wanted to be an artist,” Steve admits. “Before Project Rebirth.”

Virginia's shuffling papers on her desk, and she looks triumphant when she finds what she's looking for. She slides it over, and Steve takes the sheet.

“What is this?” he asks as he scans it.

“The sales and publishing division just sent up some ideas for running some reprints.” She smiles at him. “How long would it take you to put a portfolio together?”

* * *

The memorial collection Marvels is released six months after its titular hero's passing. It contains the most popular, iconic tales of the decades-long history, perennial fan-favorites, and personal picks by members of the Rhodes, Potts-Hogan, and Jarvis families. The cover is drawn by an unknown artist, signed only with the last name Rogers.

On it, Tony Stark is in the middle of placing a ring on an unmasked Captain America's left hand. Tony's look is concentrated on their joined hands, while Cap doesn't have eyes for anything in the world beside his husband.


End file.
